"Mrs. Clark wouldn't let us," said Lily. "She's an awfully cross old patch."
"Let's take one without asking her then," said Mabel. "We can put it back all safe, and she'll never know it."
"That would be very naughty, though," said Belle.
"And God would see, if Mrs. Clark didn't," said Mamie. "Mabel, you forget 'the eyes of the Lord are in every place.'"
"See here," said Lily, who had just put the last stone upon the miniature pier, and then plumped herself down upon the rock beside Belle,--"see here, Mamie; it seems to me you're getting rather intimate with the Lord."
"I'm not," said Mamie resentfully; for she had felt rather grand when she made her speech to Mabel, and did not like to have her weapons turned upon herself. "We ought to remember God sees us all the time."
"Course we ought," returned Lily; "but then I don't b'lieve it's proper to talk about it in that familiar kind of a way--so--so--well, I don't know exactly how to tell it, but as if the Lord was not any thing so very great, you know," and Lily's voice took a graver tone. "He hears us all the time, too, and we ought to be a little careful how we speak about Him in our play."
"He sees us and hears us now, just this very minute; don't He?" said Belle thoughtfully.
A moment's silence fell upon the little group as to one and all came the solemn recollection of the Almighty presence here among them; a silence broken, of course, by Lily, who, turning again to Mamie, said, "It's very nice of you, Mamie, certainly, to try to remember that text of yours all the time; but then I mean we ought to think a little more soberly, and speak a little more piously about it; or it's not likely to do us much good. Now let's play."
The proposed play was successfully carried out, both Lily and Belle being careful to avoid looking at Mamie during its performance lest she should guess that it was intended expressly for her benefit, take offence, and so fail to profit by it.
Nevertheless, Mamie had her own doubts on the subject; and, as the play progressed, withdrew from any active share in it, sitting down and watching the others with a solemn countenance.
The truth was that her conscience was not at rest; not that she planned any deliberate disobedience, but she knew that she was cherishing rebellious and undutiful feelings in her heart, because she would not make up her mind to give up, without farther murmuring and teasing, the pleasure her mother had forbidden.